Last Days in Wales

The morning after Alex and Amy arrived with their crew, we all enjoyed a hike up behind the bed and breakfast. We felt so lucky to have such beautiful walks and views right out our door. Emily and I also enjoyed running down the small country roads in the morning to see the rolling green hills and ocean.










In the afternoon we went on a wild goose chase for some clothes for my niece Juniper who in her enthusiasm, had jumped into the ocean in her clothes. As fate would have it, by the time we made it to our castle destination, it was closing. Finn had a little run around before we piled in the car again for our next stop.


Our next stop was one of my favorites. We made the short walk to see Pentre Ifan, a stone structure dating 3500 BC! It marked a burial site. Leave it to my family to see it as a rock climbing opportunity. And right off the bat. Even Finn insisted on being able to get up to the top.

Of course, we also saw this potentially illegal activity as a family portrait opportunity.

Finn had a blast running around the grounds with his cousins. They even taught him how to roll down a hill!

That night we ate our best pub meal of the trip at The Golden Lion, in the town of Newport. Oddly the burger that Jeremy ate was a lifetime best, and my steak and ale pie was superb. Finn ate his whole plate of chicken tenders and fries.
The next day was another favorite activity: crabbing in the Fishguard harbor. We bought bait traps, nets, and a bucket at a local convenience store. What's the best crab bait? Bacon!



We caught tons of crabs. Tons. When our bucket would get full we would dump it out and watch all the crabs scuttle into the water. We kept the big ones, my catch being the biggest, and who I named Hercules.
This video tells it best.

Finn enjoyed sitting in a boat to eat his lunch.

When his attention span for crabbing had been exhausted, he enjoyed rock climbing. Perhaps inspired by the previous day's shennanigans?


The afternoon brought a successful trip to Pembroke Castle! This place really was fun to explore. An excellent choice for kids.






This castle was built over a natural cavern, thought to be used in the stone age. Crazy.

This castle had the perfect grounds for running around, and even supplied big bouncy balls that kids could use to bounce all over the place. Or kick. Finn also enjoyed his first "ice lolly" here. He and grandad have something going with sharing their treats.



Our last stop at the castle was to climb up the largest tower. So pretty (and kind of sketchy to have a toddler up there).



For dinner, we found a pub in Pembroke called the Ferry Inn with great outdoor seating (essential for kids), right next to the water. This was great for play time while we waited for our food.

Jeremy would probably want me to point out how many skips he got on that rock.

Our last morning in Wales we went on a horseback ride through the country side--Jeremy's first. I'll be first to say that the getup doesn't really suit him. English style saddle, helmet and boots. We had fun though. Jeremy wanted to go faster, of course.

Next stop....the Cotswolds!

Around Pembrokeshire, Wales

We needed to go pick up my brother and his wife from the train station in Haverfordwest and took the opportunity to stop by a beach on the way.
We were close to several beaches in Wales. Many of them had vast expanses of sand, with cold water, just like at home. This was Whitesands beach.

Haverfordwest had ruins of an old castle that we made our first stop after picking up our party from the train station.


On the way home we stopped at a different beach, Newgale. You can see Jeremy, Michael and Emily frolicking in the waves in the distance. Michael and Emily are the milky ones, and I guess they were more likely shivering. Jeremy had the wetsuit.

Finn didn't come with us on this journey, so the following day we took him to check out a different beach by Newport. I loved the views of the green hills/cliffs from this beach.


Finn caught his first cricket game.

I really enjoyed the town of St David's. It had a cathedral there that is considered a very sacred spot. In the area, a pilgrimage to this cathedral is almost as sacred as one to Rome. I thought the wood ceilings were gorgeous. We were lucky enough to catch choir practice going on, which made the experience in there even more lovely.


Finn enjoyed playing hide and seek in the grave yard with his aunt Amanda. I suppose we're lucky he wasn't struck down or anything.

On the same grounds as the cathedral are the ruins of the bishop's palace.



Here's the view of the cathedral from the entrance.

We hung out in the town square for a while, playing by the fountain and waiting for grandad to bring treats.

Finn probably ate most of his ice cream cone. I think he's the only one who could get away that.

Maybe it is nostalgia, but one of my favorite things about going to Britain is taking advantage of the sweets. I love that there is at least one sweet shop in every little town. We found my favorite classics in several shops: cherry lips and butterscotch gums.

The beautiful evening weather one day made for a splendid outdoor meal, followed by a stroll through the meadows.

I love how Finn is taking advantage of this situation here to make his escape.

One day some of the others made the super long drive up to Caernarfon to meet an old friend of my dad's and go to the castle. We didn't think the drive would be a great situation for Finn so we stayed behind and explored some more places locally. We stopped at this old church in Nevern. The stone you see here is from 500-600 AD.


There was a path behind it where you could hike up to the site and ruins of an old castle.

I don't have any photos of it, but we next stopped at the town of Cardigan, which I quite enjoyed. Not only did it have at least 3 sweet shops on the main drag, it also had several bakeries where we got tasty sausage rolls. My nick name when I was 3 living in Scotland was "silly sausage roll" because apparently I was mad for them.
After snacks in Cardigan we headed to St. Dogmael's where we saw another church and some ruins of the old one.

Finn made a great touring companion. He just loved checking out any new place, especially getting the chance to climb, hike and run around them.


In St Dogmael's he was thrilled to get to pet a chicken just outside the old water-powered flour mill (still functioning).

He wasn't the only one who had a tendency to fall asleep in the car on the return trip.